The Gardiner’s real danger isn’t falling pieces — it’s the road on top

Gardiner:

TORONTO — City engineers believe nearly half of the elevated portion of the Gardiner Expressway is becoming structurally unstable and have asked for half a billion dollars to tear out problem sections and rebuild them over the next decade.

Of particular concern is the two-kilometre stretch east of Jarvis Street, which will be unsafe to drive on in as little as six years if left as is, staff warn.

Another kilometre-long patch between Strachan Avenue and Rees Street is in similar condition.

City staff has requested $505 million in capital funding to make the repairs. The work requires ripping out the road down to the steel girder frame and will have significant and prolonged traffic implications.

This latest revelation — that staff fears Toronto’s main commuter artery is on the verge of becoming unsafe — directly conflicts with what city hall officials have been preaching for months amidst the ongoing falling concrete controversy.

Hundreds of documents released to the Star through freedom of information reveal a communications strategy designed to convince the public that the cracking problem was purely superficial. This was being said at the same time that staff was mapping out a plan to replace entire portions of deteriorating road.

A document of “key messages” that was routinely forwarded to top city staff before media interviews began: “The Gardiner is structurally sound. The falling pieces of concrete are concrete cover and do not affect the overall integrity of the structure.”

A staff report presented to the public works committee in early May said the same thing.

It now appears that was not the case.

John Kelly, Toronto’s acting director of design and construction, said Monday that the structural integrity issue is not new.

“We do have structural concerns, which is why we recommended doing a replacement for certain structures of the deck (the elevated road),” he said. If the necessary repairs aren’t done in and around the six-year time frame, Kelly said “parts of the deck might become unusable. We wouldn’t allow vehicles to drive over parts of it potentially.”

City engineers would have pushed forward with the replacement years ago, said Kelly, had council in 2008 not voted to stop all non-urgent repairs on the Gardiner until after an environmental assessment was completed. That report was shelved about two years ago.

Kelly did stress that despite the looming crisis, the expressway is still safe to drive on and that “emergency measures,” such as “bracing underneath” the roadway have been taken in some locations.

Asked if he has confidence in city staff, Minnan-Wong pauses, then chooses his words carefully: “Our engineers have reportedly said the Gardiner is safe and that there’s no threat to the public. My gut makes me feel uncomfortable.”

Throughout the concrete crisis, city staff has withheld pertinent information about the expressway from both the politicians and the public. Less than two months ago, the Star revealed that an outside engineering firm determined that large sections of the Gardiner presented a “significant hazard to public safety” and that the city’s method for identifying loose concrete was outdated and flawed. That report was kept secretfrom both Minnan-Wong and the mayor’s office.

Additionally, hundreds of newly obtained documents reveal how dire the situation was earlier this year, when half a dozen instances of falling concrete were reported between May and July.

As city staff prepared feel-good talking points, engineers were emailing management about perilously loose chunks of concrete dangling over parked cars, the GO station at Exhibition Place, high-traffic pedestrian areas and a children’s playground.